City purchasing land behind Panida

SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint City Council approved the purchase of Farmin’s Landing, an area of land behind the Panida Theater, during its council meeting Wednesday.

Mayor Carrie Logan said the project started with the Farmin Trust more than a year and a half ago. She said the land is owned by the trust, which includes the surviving members of the Farmin family.

“The Farmins, they are one of the founding families of Sandpoint,” city attorney Scot Campbell said.

Logan said the primary reasons for the land purchase are to pretreat stormwater and stabilize the bank along Sand Creek. Stormwater will be gathered near the outlet at the interpretive trail. Campbell said the stormwater treatment may include creating a "retention pond so it can settle out before it goes in the creek."

The area between the boardwalk and the grass area has been eroding, Logan said, leading to problems.

“We don’t want to lose that bank,” Logan said.

Logan said the city is unsure how much of the land will be modified for public use as it depends on the stormwater treatment option the city chooses. If the treatment covers a large area, then less public use will be available.

“That will tell us what else the public can do down there,” Logan said.

An additional benefit is connecting the bike route through town to the land purchased, made possible because the city will be able to extend Main Street down to the stairs and walkway along the creek, Campbell said. He said the area will be no different than it currently is, it will just be city property and no longer part of the Farmin Trust. The bike route will go down Oak to Main, go down the alleyway that will soon be Main Street extended, travel up to the bridge and cross into City Beach. There will be no work needed on the Main Street extension, he said.

“This purchase, it becomes a public street,” Campbell said. “It allows people to not go on Farmin property.”

The cost of the property is about $275,000 and Logan said the money will come from the sewer fund. The city will look into grants and other options to offset some of the sewer fund costs. She said they will start work on the bank stabilization project and then move on to stormwater treatment. From there, they may have to build a stormwater feature, such as a swale, which will be designed at a later time by engineers.

“That sequence will give us the opportunity to look for other funding costs,” Logan said.

Logan is unsure exactly when work will start on the project but said it may start next summer. The land will be officially called Farmin’s Landing, in honor of the family.

“We thought it was an honorable thing to do,” Logan said.